


Look What the Kid Dragged In

by hunteriheroici (spacebarista)



Series: As Close to Happiness [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 18:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/827552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebarista/pseuds/hunteriheroici
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean forgot bringing animals home was a thing with kids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Look What the Kid Dragged In

**Author's Note:**

> Ben seems like one of those kids who would find a sad animal and take it home for the night. Dean's allergic to cats. To me these were two thoughts that needed to be combined.

Dean was never the kid who brought animals home to keep as pets. John had promised a puppy when Sam got a bit older, and when that plan was burned, he knew he’d never have a pet of his own. It didn’t stop Sam from trying, but that didn’t last long either. He long forgot about kids finding cute animals and bringing them home to beg to keep as pets. 

Until Ben did it.

It was a rainy day. Dean had stumbled in an hour before, dripping all over the floor until Lisa shoved him into the laundry room to strip while she got him dry clothes. George, the owner of the garage he worked in, had sent him home a half hour early, before the rain got really bad (“Don’t want anything to happen to that car, kid.”) Lisa had the day off, and they were curled up on the couch, sharing a mug of hot chocolate, when Ben came in. 

“Mom?”

“In the living room, baby.” She shot Dean a look. He heard it, too. There was a bit of hesitation in his tone. It was the kind of thing they heard if he came home with a bad grade or got into some trouble. They heard him drop his bag before slowly walking into the room. The couple looked at him. He was fine, a little wet from walking from the corner, but he looked very nervous. Dean noticed how he cradled his balled up jacket in his arms. 

He leaned forward, pulling his arm from Lisa’s shoulders, to get a better look. “What’s up, kid?”

Ben looked at his coat, opening his mouth to answer, but Dean cut him off with a violent sneeze. Lisa jumped and Ben pulled his bundle closer to him. “You can’t be sick already,” Lisa muttered, rubbing Dean between the shoulders. But she noticed the bundle as well. “Ben... what do you have there?”

The boy watched Dean carefully as he stepped closer. He lowered the bundle, and Dean finally understood why he was sneezing. Curled up in the folds of Ben’s coat was a small tan kitten. Dean had never really liked cats. Mainly because every time he got near one... He sneezed again, causing the little thing to jump and try and climb up Ben’s chest. Lisa gasped slightly beside him. 

“Benjamin Isaac Braeden _where_ did you find that cat and _why_ is it in my house?”

Dean tried to hold back another sneeze as Ben cowered from his mother. “He was outside in the _rain_ , mom. he was meowing and scared and I couldn’t _leave_ him.”

Lisa let out a heavy sigh, rubbing at her eyes. “Ben, I have _told_ you-”

“I know, mom! But It’s raining and I-”

Dean sneezed again, silencing the both of them. Ben recovered first.

“I can’t put him outside again. I _can’t_.”

Lisa looked at Dean, and he could see a warning in her gaze. He looked between her and Ben before sneezing again. “Lisa... can I talk to you in the kitchen for a sec?”

They left Ben alone with his feline friend, Dean sniffling and Lisa huffing. “Dean, you are _clearly_ allergic! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I don’t get a lot of play time with cats.” Dean shrugged, grabbing a napkin off the table to wipe at his nose. He hated having and showing any kind of weakness, and this was one he always forgot. “I didn’t think it was an allergy, just a... a thing.” Dean wasn’t used to being plagued by normal maladies. He didn’t even know allergies came in levels other than lethal.

Lisa tilted her head, giving him the sympathetic look that always made him feel torn between kissing her and raging about not needing pity. But it meant she understood. “Well then, you’re allergic to cats, I don’t like cats, Ben can’t take care of a cat, and here he is, my lovely son, bringing home... a cat.” She rubbed her eyes, sitting heavily at the kitchen table. “We can’t keep it, Dean. I won’t let you torture yourself, and we can’t exactly afford tests to make sure it’s even healthy...”

“Lise,” Dean breathed, sitting in the chair next to her and taking her hand in his. “We don’t have to keep it, but you saw him. We can’t tell him to put it outside.”

“You’re right. He’ll just sneak the thing back in.” She squeezed his hand, worrying her lip before looking him in the eye. “What do you think we should do?”

Dean looked out into the living room, where Ben was trying very hard not to eavesdrop, occasionally glancing into the kitchen, petting the little kitten. He looked back at Lisa. “Let’s keep it the night. A day or two at most, until we can take it to the shelter. Ben can play with it, we’ll know it’s here for sure, and we can take it there so it won’t be outside anymore. Maybe it’ll help him feel better about giving it up.”

She nodded as he spoke, a small smile on her face. “But what about you? You willing to put up with sneezing and any other reactions you may have?”

“They have medicine for that, right?” He grinned, shrugging a shoulder. “I can keep away from it. no big. I’d just rather not... hurt the kid, y’know?” All he could picture was Sam getting in trouble for bringing a puppy to the motel room, and his face as John shouted at him and stormed out. He remembered the brave front he put on as he waved goodbye to the animal when Dean walked him to a shelter to drop the puppy off, before John could make him put it back in the streets. He didn’t want Ben to make the face Sam did when John yelled. And not because of him.

Lisa’s smile grew, and she leaned forward to kiss him gently. “You are... _so_ wonderful, you know that?”

He smiled, his thumb brushing over her knuckles. “No. But I’m sure you can show me how wonderful I am later.”

She gave him her “you rascal” look, and stood, pulling him with her. “Let’s go tell him then. Thank you, for helping.”

“It’s what I do, Lise.”

Ben was happy to hear that he’d be caring for the kitten for a day or two, and rushed to the computer to look up ways to care for it, the little thing meowing all the way. Lisa shooed Dean to their bedroom, quarantining him while she dug around for some Benadryl. He got comfortable, and didn’t argue with her babying him as he took the medicine. 

The babying led to kissing, as it normally would, and once Ben was settled in for the night, it progressed. Dean pulled Lisa on top of him, grinning as she nipped at his jaw and her hair tickled his neck. He had just gotten her tank top off when they heard a strange noise at the end of the bed. Dean shrugged, choosing to ignore it and going for her bra clasp. 

That’s when they heard the meow. Dean barely managed to turn his face away from Lisa before sneezing again.

They forgot to shut the door.


End file.
